Safari
In my country of origin, the Netherlands, when we go for a short holiday, we mostly go to Belgium (the Ardennes) or to Germany (Sauerland or something like that). Others go for city trips to places like London, Rome or even Barcelona ;-). City trips are not that interesting here in Tanzania, at least, I have not found any city with enough sights to fill a complete holiday, so one of our main holiday activities is, besides Zanzibar, safari. But I often get the question: “Does it never get bored?”
Game-drive
The main component of a safari is a game drive. And a game drive means getting on a fancy safari-jeep (mostly a Landcruiser or Landrover) looking for wild animals or in other words we play the game of searching as many wild animals as possible. Once you find those wild animals you can look at them for hours. Hours???!!! Isn’t that too long? Well, actually not. If you really want to enjoy a safari you really have to take the time (hours!) to watch a group of baboon babies play on some fallen trees, to watch how many times a lion couple can mate in an hour, to look with increased tension at a cheetah ready to run after some innocent Thomson gazelles or to see millions of wildebeest trying to cross a wild river where crocodiles are ready to grab them.
Safari with kids
Another question I often get is whether kids would like a safari. Well…my kids do. They have been going on safari since they were a few months old. A mosquito net for the maxi-Cosi is an item not to be missed, but for the rest, with the comfort of the lodges in and around the safari parks, any kid would love a safari. I mean, which kid does not love animals and especially when there is a game of finding them.
Our Christmas safari
Although we go safari almost twice a year, I was much looking forward to our Christmas safari. Staying in cozy lodges with fireplaces and Christmas trees was pulling me a lot. We decided to go on a three-day safari trip with our Caracal Tours & Safaris Ltd. On Christmas day in Manyara, we found a tree-climbing lion and were in the middle of a herd of elephants grazing around our car. On boxing day, we drove all the way to Lake Ndutu to witness the great migration of the wildebeest. Still, the endless plains full of wildebeest and zebra show me how tiny I actually am in this big big world. And in Tarangire, we were rewarded with hundreds of elephants finding some shade and cool baths on the hot after-Christmas-day. In the lodges, we enjoyed the swimming pools, bonfires and I even had turkey and gluhwein during the Christmas dinner. Our kids had the time of their life and are already asking when we will go again.